Thursday, April 19, 2012

For this week's 52 Weeks of Fairy Tale post I have chosen the very well known fairy tale- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This was an especially fun tale to craft for, I have been looking forward to making all seven dwarfs as well as Snow White. Last week my back was not in a crafting mood, so I was delayed in getting started, I was very happy to finally finish up today.

Snow White is a well known fairy tale, most people are familiar with the Disney version, I will be sharing the slightly different Grimm's version. ~

Once there was a queen, who sat in her window sewing, she pricked her finger and a few drops of blood fell on her snow covered, ebony window sill. The queen sees this, and wishes for a beautiful daughter who has skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as her ebony window frame. Not long after the Queen gives birth to a beautiful baby girl who has skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and ebony black hair. Sadly however, the Queen passes away.

The King is remarried to a beautiful, but vain woman. The new queen has a magic mirror, to which she asks the well known question. "Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" to which the mirror always replies " You, my queen, are fairest of all." The years go by, and Snow White grows up into a very beautiful young women. The queen, as usual, poses her question to the mirror " Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" this time the mirror answers "You, my queen, are fair; it is true. But Snow White is a thousand times fairer than you." The queen is furious and becomes full of hatred toward Snow White.

The Queen orders a huntsman to take Snow White out into the woods and kill her, and as proof to bring back her lungs and liver ( in other versions it is the heart). The huntsman, upon seeing Snow White's beauty, falls in love with her, and cannot kill her, he tells Snow White to run away and hide from the evil queen. The huntsman kills a boar (in some versions a deer) and brings its lungs and liver to the queen. However when the queen again questions her mirror, and it still answers that Snow White is the prettiest, the Queen knows she has been tricked.

Meanwhile, Snow White comes upon a small house in the woods, it is the home of seven dwarfs.

The seven Dwarfs agree to let Snow White live with them, in exchange for her cooking and cleaning.

The Queen learns that Snow White is alive and living in the woods, and devises and evil plan to kill Snow White. One day the dwarfs left to work in the mine, and warned Snow White to not let anyone inside. The Queen however has disguised herself as a kind old peddler woman, and when the dwarfs leave, she is able to trick Snow White into buying a lace up bodice. The Queen in disguise ties the bodice laces too tight on Snow White and Snow White faints dead. The Queen is happy and returns home. Luckily the dwarfs return in time to help Snow White, and when they loosen the laces, she can breath again, and comes back to life.

The Queen again learns that Snow White is alive after hearing from her mirror that Snow White is still the fairest. Again the queen disguises herself as another kind looking women, who after the dwarfs leave, is able to trick Snow White into letting her comb her hair with a poison comb. Snow White collapses again, with the poison comb still in her hair. The Queen returns home, and luckily the dwarfs come home in time to save Snow White who is revived when they remove the poison comb.

The queen is furious when she learns Snow White is still alive, and comes up with another evil plan, this time creating a poisonous apple. When the Queen returns in disguise to Snow White, the queen offers her the apple. This time Snow White is more hesitant, so the queen, who has made only the red half of the apple poison, offers to eat the whiter half of the apple to prove to Snow White that the apple is not poison. Snow White is then tricked into taking a bite of the poison apple, at which time she falls down dead.

This time the dwarfs do not arrive home in time, and are unable to save their beloved Snow White. They build her a glass coffin, as Snow White still looks as beautiful as when she was alive, and looked as if she was only asleep. Some time passed, and a Prince happened upon the Dwarf's cottage, he saw Snow White in her glass coffin, and fell in love with her. He begged the dwarfs to let him have her, as he loved her so much. The Dwarfs could see how the prince loved Snow White, so eventually they decided to let the Prince keep Snow White in her glass coffin.

As the Prince's servants are carrying her away they stumble upon a root and Snow White is jostled, which causes the piece of poisoned apple to dislodge from her throat, and she wakes up, alive again. (Of course in later versions, it is a kiss from the Prince that brings her back to life) Everyone is very happy, and the Prince proposes to her right then. The happy couple are married.

The Queen once again asks her mirror who is the fairest- this time the mirror answers "You, my queen, are fair; it is true. But the Young Queen is a thousand times fairer than you."

The Queen was very angry, and eventually decided to go see who this young queen was, when she went to the wedding, she recognized Snow White right away. As punishment the Queen was captured, and forced to wear red hot iron shoes, and she danced herself to death.

Snow White and her Prince lived happily ever after.

~

I remember reading this version as a child, it has been quite some time since I have seen the Disney version, which I also remember enjoying as a child.

I had quite a fun time crafting Snow White and the seven dwarfs- Originally I was going to sew a wire framed Snow White doll, but I realized I didn't have black doll hair, so then I started needle felting Snow White. I love how needle felting is almost like modeling from clay, each project takes on a life of its own.

I gave Snow White a red apple, her dress is trimmed in yellow.

I tied her hair with blue embroidery floss, and gave her a nice long braid.

Each dwarf turned out a different size, I decided on a simple shape, and gave them each a different colored outfit, and various beards.

This project was quite a lot of fun needle felting and took a couple of days and quite a few hours to complete. I loved working with all of the different wool roving colors. Needle felting is one of my favorite crafts, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys fiber arts projects.

Tomorrow, in order to catch back up with my fairy tale posts, I will be sharing another Grimm's story with a very similar name- Snow White and Rose Red. While researching Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, I kept coming across this Grimm's tale, which is a completely different character and story, so I thought I would share it for Week #16.

You little needle felt projects are so cute April! I wonder what those Brothers Grimm were like in real life. They certainly thought up some bizarre things didn't they? Glass coffins and death by dancing. I'm really enjoying learning the non-Disney versions of these tales. Thank you!

Thanks everyone for you kind comments! I really enjoy needle felting and had a lot of fun with this project.

Sheila~ So far I have kept all of my fairy tale projects sitting out in nooks on one of our bookcases. I will have to find an additional spot by the time all 52 weeks of fairy tales have been crafted, eventually I plan to give them their own special box that I will be able to use for storytelling. :)

Jane~ Yes, these Grimm versions are quite interesting, I really enjoy reading these old time versions. At some point during this fairy tale series I will have to devote some time to learning about the Grimm Brothers, as well as some of the other fairy tale collectors and writers. :)

Natalie~ I had fun making the beard on this dwarf, since he was taller the longer beard seemed to fit him :)

Carrie~ Thank you. :)

Hope everyone is having a nice Friday, I am looking forward to the sunshine that has been forecast for the weekend!

It's been a long time since I read that version. As a little girl, I had the Grimm book that I would read. Your felted creation is beautiful and they are the perfect compliment to the story. I'm so glad that you have linked in to share your felting and stories.

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